These sessions are taking place at:

Kadampa Meditation Centre Canada
631 Crawford St. Toronto ON M6G 3K1

Open Google Maps

Betty Whitehouse
Kelsang Dipam
Kelsang Ganden
Kelsang Zopa
Maria Gonzalez-Castaneda
Ricardo Diaz Alarcon
Rocio Jurado

9:15 a.m: Doors open

9:30 - 10:15 a.m: Session

We have a limited quantity of Prayers for World Peacel Prayer booklets in the meditation room, which you are very welcome to borrow during the session.

If you wish to purchase your own copy of the booklet, you can do so by visiting our bookstore in person or buying a downloadable or paper copy online. Click here to purchase it online from the Tharpa Publications Canada website.

For any questions or inquiries about these sessions, please email: [email protected]

These sessions are taking place at:

Kadampa Meditation Centre Canada
631 Crawford St. Toronto ON M6G 3K1

Open Google Maps

Wishfulfilling Jewel Prayer is a practice that enables us to overcome obstacles and difficulties on the spiritual path by developing compassion, wisdom and spiritual strength.

It includes two practices revealed by the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri. By engaging in the special Guru yoga practised in conjunction with Je Tsongkhapa we can purify negativity, accumulate merit and receive blessings, and attain a very special wisdom. By engaging in the special method for relying upon the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden we can overcome obstacles to our practice and create favourable conditions so that we can nurture and increase our spiritual realizations. These two practices are the very essence of Kadampa Buddhism. If we practise them regularly and sincerely, we will reap a rich harvest of pure Dharma realizations, and eventually come to experience the supreme joy of full enlightenment.

An extensive explanation of this sadhana can be found in the book Heart Jewel, by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche.

We have a limited quantity of Wishfulfilling Jewel Prayer booklets in the meditation room, which you are very welcome to borrow during the session.

If you wish to purchase your own copy of the booklet, you can do so by visiting our bookstore in person or buying a downloadable or paper copy online. Click here to purchase it online from the Tharpa Publications Canada website.

For any questions or inquiries about these sessions, please email: [email protected]

These sessions are taking place at:

Kadampa Meditation Centre Canada
631 Crawford St. Toronto ON M6G 3K1

Open Google Maps

This practice is scheduled on the 2nd or 3rd Saturday each month.

8:15 am: Doors open

8:30 - 9:30 am: Session

No cost

For any questions or inquiries about these sessions, please email: [email protected]

These sessions are taking place at:

Kadampa Meditation Centre Canada
631 Crawford St. Toronto ON M6G 3K1

Open Google Maps

Buddha taught that all life is impermanent and that all those who are born must eventually pass from this life. However, everyone has within them the seeds of their past virtue, which have the power to bring a fortunate rebirth in the future.  In these sessions, we pray that through the power of this virtue, through the blessings of the holy beings, and through the force of our heartfelt prayers, all those who have recently passed away experience great good fortune and everlasting peace and happiness.  We pray that they will be protected and safely guided to a place of peace and pure happiness.

An extensive explanation of this sadhana can be found in the book Living Meaningfully, Dying Joyfully, by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso.

We have a limited quantity of Powa Ceremony Prayer booklets in the meditation room, which you are very welcome to borrow during the session.

If you wish to purchase your own copy of the booklet, you can do so by visiting our bookstore in person or buying a downloadable or paper copy online. Click here to purchase it online from the Tharpa Publications Canada website.

For any questions or inquiries about these sessions, please email: [email protected]

These sessions are taking place at:

Kadampa Meditation Centre Canada
631 Crawford St. Toronto ON M6G 3K1

Open Google Maps

Betty Whitehouse
Kelsang Dipam
Kelsang Ganden
Kelsang Zopa
Maria Gonzalez-Castaneda
Ricardo Diaz Alarcon
Rocio Jurado

9:15 a.m: Doors open

9:30 - 10:15 a.m: Session

We have a limited quantity of Prayers for World Peacel Prayer booklets in the meditation room, which you are very welcome to borrow during the session.

If you wish to purchase your own copy of the booklet, you can do so by visiting our bookstore in person or buying a downloadable or paper copy online. Click here to purchase it online from the Tharpa Publications Canada website.

For any questions or inquiries about these sessions, please email: [email protected]

This event is taking place at:

Kadampa Meditation Centre Canada
631 Crawford St. Toronto ON M6G 3K1

Open Google Maps

Offering to the Spiritual Guide is a special Guru yoga of Je Tsongkhapa in conjunction with Highest Yoga Tantra. It was compiled by the first Panchen Lama, Losang Chökyi Gyaltsän, as a preliminary practice for Vajrayana Mahamudra. The main practice is relying upon the Spiritual Guide, but it also includes all the essential practices of the stages of the path (Lamrim) and training the mind (Lojong), as well as both the generation stage and completion stage of Highest Yoga Tantra.

The essence of Guru yoga is to develop a strong conviction that our Spiritual Guide is a Buddha, to make prostrations, offerings, and sincere requests to him or her, and then to receive his or her profound blessings. According to the Guru yoga of Offering to the Spiritual Guide, we develop conviction that our Spiritual Guide is the same nature as Je Tsongkhapa, who is an emanation of the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri.

By relying upon Je Tsongkhapa, our compassion, wisdom, and spiritual power naturally increase. In particular, because Je Tsongkhapa is an emanation of the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri, his faithful followers never experience difficulty in increasing their wisdom. There are many other benefits from practising Offering to the Spiritual Guide. These are explained in the book Great Treasury of Merit, which contains a complete commentary to the practice.

We have a limited quantity of Offering to the Spiritual Guide Prayer booklets in the meditation room, which you are very welcome to borrow during the session.

If you wish to purchase your own copy of the booklet, you can do so by visiting our bookstore in person or buying a downloadable or paper copy online. Click here to purchase it online from the Tharpa Publications Canada website.

If you have any questions, please email: [email protected]

These sessions are taking place at:

Kadampa Meditation Centre Canada
631 Crawford St. Toronto ON M6G 3K1

Open Google Maps

Wishfulfilling Jewel Prayer is a practice that enables us to overcome obstacles and difficulties on the spiritual path by developing compassion, wisdom and spiritual strength.

It includes two practices revealed by the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri. By engaging in the special Guru yoga practised in conjunction with Je Tsongkhapa we can purify negativity, accumulate merit and receive blessings, and attain a very special wisdom. By engaging in the special method for relying upon the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden we can overcome obstacles to our practice and create favourable conditions so that we can nurture and increase our spiritual realizations. These two practices are the very essence of Kadampa Buddhism. If we practise them regularly and sincerely, we will reap a rich harvest of pure Dharma realizations, and eventually come to experience the supreme joy of full enlightenment.

An extensive explanation of this sadhana can be found in the book Heart Jewel, by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche.

We have a limited quantity of Wishfulfilling Jewel Prayer booklets in the meditation room, which you are very welcome to borrow during the session.

If you wish to purchase your own copy of the booklet, you can do so by visiting our bookstore in person or buying a downloadable or paper copy online. Click here to purchase it online from the Tharpa Publications Canada website.

For any questions or inquiries about these sessions, please email: [email protected]

These sessions are taking place at:

Kadampa Meditation Centre Canada
631 Crawford St. Toronto ON M6G 3K1

Open Google Maps

Betty Whitehouse
Kelsang Dipam
Kelsang Ganden
Kelsang Zopa
Maria Gonzalez-Castaneda
Ricardo Diaz Alarcon
Rocio Jurado

9:15 a.m: Doors open

9:30 - 10:15 a.m: Session

We have a limited quantity of Prayers for World Peacel Prayer booklets in the meditation room, which you are very welcome to borrow during the session.

If you wish to purchase your own copy of the booklet, you can do so by visiting our bookstore in person or buying a downloadable or paper copy online. Click here to purchase it online from the Tharpa Publications Canada website.

For any questions or inquiries about these sessions, please email: [email protected]

These sessions are taking place at:

Kadampa Meditation Centre Canada
631 Crawford St. Toronto ON M6G 3K1

Open Google Maps

9:15 a.m: Doors open

9:30 - 10:15 a.m: Session

Betty Whitehouse
Kelsang Dipam
Kelsang Ganden
Kelsang Zopa
Maria Gonzalez-Castaneda
Ricardo Diaz Alarcon
Rocio Jurado

We have a limited quantity of Prayers for World Peacel Prayer booklets in the meditation room, which you are very welcome to borrow during the session.

If you wish to purchase your own copy of the booklet, you can do so by visiting our bookstore in person or buying a downloadable or paper copy online. Click here to purchase it online from the Tharpa Publications Canada website.

For any questions or inquiries about these sessions, please email: [email protected]

These sessions are taking place at:

Kadampa Meditation Centre Canada
631 Crawford St. Toronto ON M6G 3K1

Open Google Maps

Wishfulfilling Jewel Prayer is a practice that enables us to overcome obstacles and difficulties on the spiritual path by developing compassion, wisdom and spiritual strength.

It includes two practices revealed by the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri. By engaging in the special Guru yoga practised in conjunction with Je Tsongkhapa we can purify negativity, accumulate merit and receive blessings, and attain a very special wisdom. By engaging in the special method for relying upon the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden we can overcome obstacles to our practice and create favourable conditions so that we can nurture and increase our spiritual realizations. These two practices are the very essence of Kadampa Buddhism. If we practise them regularly and sincerely, we will reap a rich harvest of pure Dharma realizations, and eventually come to experience the supreme joy of full enlightenment.

An extensive explanation of this sadhana can be found in the book Heart Jewel, by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche.

We have a limited quantity of Wishfulfilling Jewel Prayer booklets in the meditation room, which you are very welcome to borrow during the session.

If you wish to purchase your own copy of the booklet, you can do so by visiting our bookstore in person or buying a downloadable or paper copy online. Click here to purchase it online from the Tharpa Publications Canada website.

For any questions or inquiries about these sessions, please email: [email protected]

This event is taking place at:

Kadampa Meditation Centre Canada
631 Crawford St. Toronto ON M6G 3K1

Open Google Maps

Offering to the Spiritual Guide is a special Guru yoga of Je Tsongkhapa in conjunction with Highest Yoga Tantra. It was compiled by the first Panchen Lama, Losang Chökyi Gyaltsän, as a preliminary practice for Vajrayana Mahamudra. The main practice is relying upon the Spiritual Guide, but it also includes all the essential practices of the stages of the path (Lamrim) and training the mind (Lojong), as well as both the generation stage and completion stage of Highest Yoga Tantra.

The essence of Guru yoga is to develop a strong conviction that our Spiritual Guide is a Buddha, to make prostrations, offerings, and sincere requests to him or her, and then to receive his or her profound blessings. According to the Guru yoga of Offering to the Spiritual Guide, we develop conviction that our Spiritual Guide is the same nature as Je Tsongkhapa, who is an emanation of the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri.

By relying upon Je Tsongkhapa, our compassion, wisdom, and spiritual power naturally increase. In particular, because Je Tsongkhapa is an emanation of the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri, his faithful followers never experience difficulty in increasing their wisdom. There are many other benefits from practising Offering to the Spiritual Guide. These are explained in the book Great Treasury of Merit, which contains a complete commentary to the practice.

We have a limited quantity of Offering to the Spiritual Guide Prayer booklets in the meditation room, which you are very welcome to borrow during the session.

If you wish to purchase your own copy of the booklet, you can do so by visiting our bookstore in person or buying a downloadable or paper copy online. Click here to purchase it online from the Tharpa Publications Canada website.

If you have any questions, please email: [email protected]

This session is taking place at:

Kadampa Meditation Centre Canada
631 Crawford St. Toronto ON M6G 3K1

Open Google Maps

Tara is a female Buddha, a manifestation of the ultimate wisdom of all the Buddhas. Each of the Twenty-one Taras is a manifestation of the principal Tara, Green Tara. Tara is also known as the 'Mother of the Conquerors'.

Tara is our common mother, our Holy Mother. When we are young we turn to our worldly mother for help. She protects us from immediate dangers, provides us with all our temporal needs, and guides and encourages us in our learning and personal development. In the same way, during our spiritual growth we need to turn to our Holy Mother, Tara, for refuge. She protects us from all internal and external dangers, she provides us with all the necessary conditions for our spiritual training, and she guides us and inspires us with her blessings as we progress along the spiritual path.

'Tara' means 'Rescuer'. She is so called because she rescues us from the eight outer fears (the fears of lions, elephants, fire, snakes, thieves, water, bondage, and evil spirits), and from the eight inner fears (the fears of pride, ignorance, anger, jealousy, wrong views, attachment, miserliness, and deluded doubts). Temporarily Tara saves us from the dangers of rebirth in the three lower realms, and ultimately she saves us from the dangers of samsara and solitary peace.

If we rely upon Mother Tara sincerely and with strong faith she will protect us from all obstacles and fulfil all our wishes. Since she is a wisdom Buddha, and since she is a manifestation of the completely purified wind element, Tara is able to help us very quickly. If we recite the twenty-one verses of praise we shall receive inconceivable benefits. These praises are very powerful because they are Sutra, the actual words of Buddha. It is good to recite them as often as we can.

We have a limited quantity of Liberation from Sorrow prayer booklets in the meditation room, which you are very welcome to borrow during the session.

If you wish to purchase your own copy of the booklet, you can do so by visiting our bookstore in person or buying a downloadable or paper copy online. Click here to purchase it online from the Tharpa Publications Canada website.

For any questions or inquiries about these sessions, please email: [email protected]

This event is taking place at:

Kadampa Meditation Centre Canada
631 Crawford St. Toronto ON M6G 3K1

Open Google Maps

Offering to the Spiritual Guide is a special Guru yoga of Je Tsongkhapa in conjunction with Highest Yoga Tantra. It was compiled by the first Panchen Lama, Losang Chökyi Gyaltsän, as a preliminary practice for Vajrayana Mahamudra. The main practice is relying upon the Spiritual Guide, but it also includes all the essential practices of the stages of the path (Lamrim) and training the mind (Lojong), as well as both the generation stage and completion stage of Highest Yoga Tantra.

The essence of Guru yoga is to develop a strong conviction that our Spiritual Guide is a Buddha, to make prostrations, offerings, and sincere requests to him or her, and then to receive his or her profound blessings. According to the Guru yoga of Offering to the Spiritual Guide, we develop conviction that our Spiritual Guide is the same nature as Je Tsongkhapa, who is an emanation of the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri.

By relying upon Je Tsongkhapa, our compassion, wisdom, and spiritual power naturally increase. In particular, because Je Tsongkhapa is an emanation of the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri, his faithful followers never experience difficulty in increasing their wisdom. There are many other benefits from practising Offering to the Spiritual Guide. These are explained in the book Great Treasury of Merit, which contains a complete commentary to the practice.

We have a limited quantity of Offering to the Spiritual Guide Prayer booklets in the meditation room, which you are very welcome to borrow during the session.

If you wish to purchase your own copy of the booklet, you can do so by visiting our bookstore in person or buying a downloadable or paper copy online. Click here to purchase it online from the Tharpa Publications Canada website.

If you have any questions, please email: [email protected]

These sessions are taking place at:

Kadampa Meditation Centre Canada
631 Crawford St. Toronto ON M6G 3K1

Open Google Maps

Wishfulfilling Jewel Prayer is a practice that enables us to overcome obstacles and difficulties on the spiritual path by developing compassion, wisdom and spiritual strength.

It includes two practices revealed by the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri. By engaging in the special Guru yoga practised in conjunction with Je Tsongkhapa we can purify negativity, accumulate merit and receive blessings, and attain a very special wisdom. By engaging in the special method for relying upon the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden we can overcome obstacles to our practice and create favourable conditions so that we can nurture and increase our spiritual realizations. These two practices are the very essence of Kadampa Buddhism. If we practise them regularly and sincerely, we will reap a rich harvest of pure Dharma realizations, and eventually come to experience the supreme joy of full enlightenment.

An extensive explanation of this sadhana can be found in the book Heart Jewel, by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche.

We have a limited quantity of Wishfulfilling Jewel Prayer booklets in the meditation room, which you are very welcome to borrow during the session.

If you wish to purchase your own copy of the booklet, you can do so by visiting our bookstore in person or buying a downloadable or paper copy online. Click here to purchase it online from the Tharpa Publications Canada website.

For any questions or inquiries about these sessions, please email: [email protected]

These sessions are taking place at:

Kadampa Meditation Centre Canada
631 Crawford St. Toronto ON M6G 3K1

Open Google Maps

Buddha taught that all life is impermanent and that all those who are born must eventually pass from this life. However, everyone has within them the seeds of their past virtue, which have the power to bring a fortunate rebirth in the future.  In these sessions, we pray that through the power of this virtue, through the blessings of the holy beings, and through the force of our heartfelt prayers, all those who have recently passed away experience great good fortune and everlasting peace and happiness.  We pray that they will be protected and safely guided to a place of peace and pure happiness.

An extensive explanation of this sadhana can be found in the book Living Meaningfully, Dying Joyfully, by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso.

We have a limited quantity of Powa Ceremony Prayer booklets in the meditation room, which you are very welcome to borrow during the session.

If you wish to purchase your own copy of the booklet, you can do so by visiting our bookstore in person or buying a downloadable or paper copy online. Click here to purchase it online from the Tharpa Publications Canada website.

For any questions or inquiries about these sessions, please email: [email protected]

These sessions are taking place at:

Kadampa Meditation Centre Canada
631 Crawford St. Toronto ON M6G 3K1

Open Google Maps

Wishfulfilling Jewel Prayer is a practice that enables us to overcome obstacles and difficulties on the spiritual path by developing compassion, wisdom and spiritual strength.

It includes two practices revealed by the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri. By engaging in the special Guru yoga practised in conjunction with Je Tsongkhapa we can purify negativity, accumulate merit and receive blessings, and attain a very special wisdom. By engaging in the special method for relying upon the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden we can overcome obstacles to our practice and create favourable conditions so that we can nurture and increase our spiritual realizations. These two practices are the very essence of Kadampa Buddhism. If we practise them regularly and sincerely, we will reap a rich harvest of pure Dharma realizations, and eventually come to experience the supreme joy of full enlightenment.

An extensive explanation of this sadhana can be found in the book Heart Jewel, by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche.

We have a limited quantity of Wishfulfilling Jewel Prayer booklets in the meditation room, which you are very welcome to borrow during the session.

If you wish to purchase your own copy of the booklet, you can do so by visiting our bookstore in person or buying a downloadable or paper copy online. Click here to purchase it online from the Tharpa Publications Canada website.

For any questions or inquiries about these sessions, please email: [email protected]

This event is taking place at:

Kadampa Meditation Centre Canada
631 Crawford St. Toronto ON M6G 3K1

Open Google Maps

Offering to the Spiritual Guide is a special Guru yoga of Je Tsongkhapa in conjunction with Highest Yoga Tantra. It was compiled by the first Panchen Lama, Losang Chökyi Gyaltsän, as a preliminary practice for Vajrayana Mahamudra. The main practice is relying upon the Spiritual Guide, but it also includes all the essential practices of the stages of the path (Lamrim) and training the mind (Lojong), as well as both the generation stage and completion stage of Highest Yoga Tantra.

The essence of Guru yoga is to develop a strong conviction that our Spiritual Guide is a Buddha, to make prostrations, offerings, and sincere requests to him or her, and then to receive his or her profound blessings. According to the Guru yoga of Offering to the Spiritual Guide, we develop conviction that our Spiritual Guide is the same nature as Je Tsongkhapa, who is an emanation of the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri.

By relying upon Je Tsongkhapa, our compassion, wisdom, and spiritual power naturally increase. In particular, because Je Tsongkhapa is an emanation of the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri, his faithful followers never experience difficulty in increasing their wisdom. There are many other benefits from practising Offering to the Spiritual Guide. These are explained in the book Great Treasury of Merit, which contains a complete commentary to the practice.

We have a limited quantity of Offering to the Spiritual Guide Prayer booklets in the meditation room, which you are very welcome to borrow during the session.

If you wish to purchase your own copy of the booklet, you can do so by visiting our bookstore in person or buying a downloadable or paper copy online. Click here to purchase it online from the Tharpa Publications Canada website.

If you have any questions, please email: [email protected]

These sessions are taking place at:

Kadampa Meditation Centre Canada
631 Crawford St. Toronto ON M6G 3K1

Open Google Maps

Wishfulfilling Jewel Prayer is a practice that enables us to overcome obstacles and difficulties on the spiritual path by developing compassion, wisdom and spiritual strength.

It includes two practices revealed by the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri. By engaging in the special Guru yoga practised in conjunction with Je Tsongkhapa we can purify negativity, accumulate merit and receive blessings, and attain a very special wisdom. By engaging in the special method for relying upon the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden we can overcome obstacles to our practice and create favourable conditions so that we can nurture and increase our spiritual realizations. These two practices are the very essence of Kadampa Buddhism. If we practise them regularly and sincerely, we will reap a rich harvest of pure Dharma realizations, and eventually come to experience the supreme joy of full enlightenment.

An extensive explanation of this sadhana can be found in the book Heart Jewel, by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche.

We have a limited quantity of Wishfulfilling Jewel Prayer booklets in the meditation room, which you are very welcome to borrow during the session.

If you wish to purchase your own copy of the booklet, you can do so by visiting our bookstore in person or buying a downloadable or paper copy online. Click here to purchase it online from the Tharpa Publications Canada website.

For any questions or inquiries about these sessions, please email: [email protected]

This event is taking place at:

Kadampa Meditation Centre Canada
631 Crawford St. Toronto ON M6G 3K1

Open Google Maps

2:15 p.m: Doors open

2:30 - 6:00 p.m: Puja

This practice consists of five parts: Praise to Manjushri, the Guru Yoga of Je Tsongkhapa, Self-generation as Heruka, the Fulfilling and Restoring Ritual of the General Protectors, and the Fulfilling and Restoring Ritual of the Great King Dorje Shugden. Of these, the last is the principal practice.

A Dharma Protector is an emanation of a Buddha or a Bodhisattva whose main functions are to avert the inner and outer obstacles that prevent practitioners from gaining spiritual realizations, and to arrange all the necessary conditions for their practice. Beings in this present time have a strong karmic link with Dorje Shugden, and so he is the Dharma Protector who is most able to help them. Therefore it is said that, Now is the time to rely upon Dorje Shugden. Dorje Shugden always helps, guides, and protects pure and faithful practitioners by granting blessings, increasing their wisdom, fulfilling their wishes, and bestowing success on all their virtuous activities.

There are many brief and middling-length sadhanas of Dorje Shugden, such as Heart Jewel and Wishfulfilling Jewel. This extensive sadhana is called Kangso in Tibetan, which means Fulfilling and Restoring Ritual, and it is usually performed once a month in Dharma Centres. During this puja we make extensive offerings and perform other practices:

To fulfil our heart commitment to rely upon the Protector sincerely, regarding him as inseparable from the Guru and Yidam, and to practise the pure Dharma of Lamrim, Lojong, and Mahamudra,

To restore any degenerate or broken commitments we may have incurred,

We begin the practice with Praise to Manjushri to remember that the Guru and Protector are in reality emanations of the Wisdom Buddha. We then perform the Guru yoga of Je Tsongkhapa and, after dissolving the Guru into our heart, perform self-generation as Heruka. We then invite the general Dharma Protectors such as Mahakala, Kalarupa, and Kalindewi, before beginning the actual sadhana of Dorje Shugden. The fulfilling and restoring ritual of the general Protectors is interwoven with the sadhana of Dorje Shugden.

Further information on the Guru yoga of Je Tsongkhapa and on the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden can be found in the book Heart Jewel, and further information on self-generation as Heruka can be found in the book Essence of Vajrayana.

We have a limited quantity of Melodious Drum Prayer booklets in the meditation room, which you are very welcome to borrow during the session.

If you wish to purchase your own copy of the booklet, you can do so by visiting our bookstore in person or buying a downloadable or paper copy online. Click here to purchase it online from the Tharpa Publications Canada website.

If you have any questions, please email: [email protected]

If we go out a lot during the summer months we will naturally kill more insects and other animals than at other times of the year. The nature of Buddhadharma is compassion – an unbiased compassion that is not just for human beings but for every living being, including animals.

In fact, we should have stronger compassion for animals than for human beings because animals suffer more. Human beings have better conditions and are more fortunate than animals. Because animals have so much suffering and no freedom, out of compassion Buddhists should try not to kill or disturb them. So, for three months during the summer, Buddha advised his disciples to retreat, staying always inside and living carefully and conscientiously.

One year during the annual summer retreat Buddha went to the Land of the Thirty-three Heavens. After his mother died she had taken rebirth in this god realm, so-called because it has thirty-three different types of gods.

The king of this realm is called Indra. The Indra who was king at that time was also Buddha’s disciple and he invited Buddha to go there. So Buddha went to benefit his mother and also, at Indra’s request, to benefit the other gods living there. He stayed three months, and then returned on this day.

This day is therefore very special. It is said that if we engage in any kind of virtuous action on this day it becomes especially powerful and our merit greatly increases. For example, if we offer one single light offering this action is multiplied to become millions of light offerings.

On this day we should especially remember Buddha’s kindness.

We now have a special wisdom that understands that killing animals is a negative action, so we abandon killing. We now have a special wisdom that understands what love is and can distinguish between love and attachment, so we try to abandon attachment and increase our love. Thus, we have a wonderful opportunity to develop unbiased compassion for all living beings, and in this way we can gain the special realization of bodhichitta, which is the root of complete enlightenment.

We now have the chance to abandon our self-grasping, which is the source of all suffering and problems. We have the wisdom that understands what self-grasping is, how it harms us and how to abandon it. All this knowledge and all our wisdom realizations come from the kindness of Buddha Shakyamuni.

All Je Tsongkhapa’s books are commentaries to Buddha Shakyamuni’s teachings. They help to clarify them and make it easier for us to understand them. Nowadays human beings are very intelligent and knowledgeable about how to develop and produce external things, but their understanding or wisdom about the profound Dharma of the inner spiritual path is very poor and weak. Je Tsongkhapa made it very easy for us to understand this. He clarified everything and made it easy for us to integrate all of Buddha’s teachings in a very practical way.

Because Je Tsongkhapa’s books are commentaries to Buddha Shakyamuni’s teachings, when we are studying Je Tsongkhapa’s teachings we are studying Buddha Shakyamuni’s teachings, and when we are practicing Je Tsongkhapa’s teachings we are practicing Buddha’s teachings.

All the books we study on the General Program, Foundation Program, and Teacher Training Program, are commentaries to Je Tsongkhapa’s teachings. They clarify Je Tsongkhapa’s teachings and explain how to practice and integrate them into our everyday life. They are a special presentation, but in reality they are all commentaries to Je Tsongkhapa’s books. We are therefore studying Je Tsongkhapa’s teachings – and in doing this we are studying Buddha Shakyamuni’s teachings.

In reality, every teaching we study and practise comes fundamentally from Buddha Shakyamuni; all our wisdom that understands Dharma comes from his kindness. Realizing this we should dedicate all the virtues we accumulate today to fulfilling his wish.

What is Buddha’s wish? His main wish is that his teachings flourish throughout the world so that all living beings find release from the suffering ocean of samsara and attain permanent inner peace, permanent freedom, and eventually great enlightenment. Because the real method to find release from samsara is to practice Buddha’s teachings, unless they flourish in this world it is impossible to attain actual liberation.

Buddha doesn’t need anything for himself because he has completed everything – he has fulfilled all his personal wishes. His sole remaining wish is that living beings attain liberation and enlightenment through practicing his teachings. In other words, his wish is for pure Buddhadharma to flourish throughout the world to free all living beings from every kind of problem and suffering.

We should therefore dedicate all the virtues we accumulate today for this purpose.

You may recall that Buddha in his Root Tantra of Manjushri said to his Heart Disciple Manjushri:

After I pass away

And my pure doctrine is absent,

You will appear as an ordinary being,

Performing the deeds of a Buddha

And establishing the Joyful Land, the great Protector,

In the Land of the Snows.

‘The Land of the Snows’ refers to Tibet, and ‘Joyful Land’ refers both to Ganden Monastery and to the Ganden doctrine, the great Protector.

Buddha was saying that in the future, after he had passed away and his pure doctrine was finished, at that time Manjushri would appear in the aspect of an ordinary being but would perform exactly the same actions as a Buddha, and in particular he would establish Ganden Monastery and the great Protector, the Ganden doctrine, or Je Tsongkhapa’s Dharma, in Tibet.

If we memorize and contemplate deeply the meaning of Buddha’s words it will give us much advice, a good feeling, and a profound understanding. When he says that Manjushri would appear as an ordinary being but perform the deeds of a Buddha, he is describing Je Tsongkhapa’s special characteristic.

Although Je Tsongkhapa had the highest realisations of Highest Yoga Tantra he never physically showed that he was a Tantric yogi. He lived like as an ordinary pure practitioner, emphasising by his outward appearance the pure practice of moral discipline. However, his daily life was that of a Bodhisattva, and his inner realisation of experiencing the union of great bliss and emptiness day and night was the very essence of Highest Yoga Tantra

He had already gained this experience many lifetimes previously, but he appeared as a Tibetan Lama for the purpose of showing clearly a special example of how to begin, make progress on, and complete the stages of the path to enlightenment.

He appeared as an ordinary human being for the benefit of his future followers. Buddha Shakyamuni also did the same. He took birth as an apparently ordinary human being, became ordained, engaged in meditation, and finally demonstrated attaining enlightenment.

Most of you know the story of Buddha’s life: how he got ordained, engaged in meditation retreat for six years, and finally under the Bodhi Tree at Bodh Gaya attained enlightenment.

The way Je Tsongkhapa demonstrated his attainment of enlightenment was a little bit different. He did not show his attainment of enlightenment during his life, but while he was passing away.

When the time came for him to leave his old, gross body that had come from his ordinary parents, ordinary people thought he was dying, but at that time instead of experiencing the ordinary clear light of death that is experienced by ordinary beings during the death process, he experienced the ultimate example clear light.

From that state, instead of arising from the clear light of death in the form of a bardo, or intermediate state, being he appeared in the form of the illusory body. From that state, instead of taking an ordinary rebirth he attained the Emanation Body of a Buddha. In this way, he showed the manner of attaining enlightenment.

He showed this way of attaining enlightenment for certain specific reasons that would help his future followers. However, many of his direct disciples, as well as many of his future followers, including Gyalwa Ensapa, for example, attained enlightenment before death. As I have explained many times, Gyalwa Ensapa completed his training in Highest Yoga Tantra and attained full enlightenment in three years, and did not wait until the time of his death.

There are many different ways to attain enlightenment. Since many of his disciples were ordained, Je Tsongkhapa wanted to show an especially good example to his ordained disciples. Thus he showed the manner of attaining enlightenment at the time of death instead of attaining enlightenment before death.

Today we remember Je Tsongkhapa’s great kindness and dedicate all our virtuous actions including this evening’s puja so that his Dharma will flourish throughout the world and provide many living beings with the great opportunity to attain liberation and full enlightenment.